When replacing your brake lines, you obviously need your stainless steel brake lines, need a set of wrenches with specific wrenches to brake lines, so we have an 11, a 14, and then we have a 15 regular wrench. You need your new brake fluid, and then you need a catch can so you can drain your old brake fluid into. Now some of you may be wondering why DOT 3, why DOT 4. The core difference between the two is that DOT 4 has a higher boiling point, so actually most BMWs require DOT 4 fluid, including the e30. You can see that on your brake fluid reservoir. So especially in applications like this particular vehicle that we will be taking to the track a lot, you want to make sure that you have higher boiling brake fluid. If you ever experience brake fade, which means that you boiled your brake fluid, you definitely want to replace it right away, otherwise the regular maintenance cycle of brake fluid is about three years.

Replacing brake lines is a very straightforward task. Be very careful when dealing with dirty or old brake line fittings. Use special brake line wrenches, 11 and 14 millimeters in this case, to avoid rounding off any of the fittings. When removing the lines, brake fluid may spill, so be very careful and catch any excess with shop rags. Wipe up any spills as soon as possible. The fitting at your brake line caliper should also be a 14 millimeter fitting.

So there are many reasons why people do stainless steel brake lines; some claim it gives you a better pedal feel. In our case specifically, our brake lines are in very bad shape, so we wanted to replace them anyways, and we figured why not add some good brake feel at the same time. So, you can see here that this brake line has rubbed, or has been rubbed through, in multiple spots, which can be a little bit sketchy. Then on top of that, it’s actually started to break on the end here, so these are definitely due for a replacement.

Hand tighten your new brake lines into the caliper, and then tighten them according to the torque specs for your specific application. For our e30, it’s 14 to 17 meters. Do the same for your brake line and hard line fitting, again, using your special brake line wrenches.

The rear lines of an e30 have two soft brake lines that will be replaced. One of these is tucked above the subframe and near the rear trailing arm mounts. This line will drip a lot of brake fluid, so again, be ready to catch as much as possible with shop rags. Same concept applies here. Hand tighten, and then torque to spec. It is extremely important to hand tighten as far as possible, because cross-threading a break line fitting would be disastrous. It would require costly and time consuming repairs to the brake lines, or potentially even require you to replace the entire hard line, so make sure you take your time with this install. Do not over tighten any of these fittings, either.

The last line is located above your hub assembly and is quite short, but all the same concepts apply.

Time to take a step back and admire your newly installed stainless steel brake lines. Our Garagistic lines boast a beautiful red look that works very well with our KONI shocks and Eibach springs.

The final step of the install is to bleed your entire brake system. Make sure you always have enough brake fluid in your reservoir while bleeding, and start with the brake caliper that is the furthest away from your master cylinder. In our case, it’s the rear passenger side, and then the driver rear, and then the front passenger, and lastly, your driver side caliper. Have a friend pump the brake pedal, and then crack open the bleeder nipple on the brake caliper you’re bleeding. Close the nipple to avoid sucking in any air bubbles, and repeat until no more air bubbles come out of the caliper.

If you need further instructions, there are many great videos, but we’re not going to go into great detail on this particular DIY.

All right, guys. That’s all there is to it. It’s not a very difficult job, but if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, please make sure you get a professional to help you or do it for you. Brakes are obviously very important, so make sure you stay safe. Hope you guys enjoy the video. Please Like if you did. Share, subscribe, make sure you do all that good stuff, and check the parts in the description, and hopefully we’ll see you guys next time.